The accountancy firm has also appointed Dame Karen Dunnell, former head of the Office of National Statistics and vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, as non-executives to its newly created public interest body.

The move by the “big four” firm comes as a response to new regulations outlined by oversight body, the Financial Reporting Council, requiring the top eight accounting firms in the UK to add independent directors to ensure effective governance.

It is understood that Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG are set to make the same move in the coming months.